In the field of media projection, display surfaces are traditionally flat. In turn, traditional media capture devices capture data in a rectilinear domain (i.e., formed or enclosed by straight, parallel lines), and traditional media display systems display the data on the flat surfaces as rectilinear frames. Recently, however, advancement in the art of media presentation technologies has resulted in new media display systems that are capable of depicting media on a fully spherical surface. An example of this type of system is Science on a Sphere (SOS), which was originally intended as a means to showcase planetary data in fully spherical representations. An SOS system may include a spherical display surface surrounded by a plurality of media projectors, each of which may be coupled to a display computer that drives the media projector. In turn, each display computer may be coupled to a central control computer, which may function to control the display computers. The SOS system may also include one or more user interfaces that allow users to interact with the SOS system. More detail about SOS may be found at http://SOS.noaa.gov, which is incorporated herein by reference.
Until now, the type of data available for display on spherical display systems (e.g., SOS) in a natural or logical manner has been limited. This is due in large part to the difficulties in producing data for natural/logical display in a spherical (i.e., curvilinear) domain as opposed to a rectilinear domain, especially when traditional media capture devices capture data in the rectilinear domain. Existing data for display on spherical display systems in a natural/logical manner includes data sets generated in a spherical domain for the specific purpose of displaying on a sphere. These data sets may be in the form of single frames (i.e., still images) or animations (i.e., logically successive images played back in rapid, sequential, and temporally consistent order). One example of a spherical data set is planetary data generated for the specific purpose of displaying on a sphere, as described above. Existing data for display on spherical display systems in a natural/logical manner also includes data generated and/or captured in the rectilinear domain that is tiled (i.e., multiple identical copies of the rectilinear image placed adjacently to one other so as to cover a spherical surface). In this respect, viewers located at different points along the spherical display surface may each see the same rectilinear data.
However, until now, rectilinear data has not been effectively produced for display on spherical surface as full motion media. In this respect, there are limited techniques and/or tools that currently exist for selecting subjects to be displayed as full motion media on a spherical surface. Further, there are limited techniques and/or tools that currently exist for processing full motion media captured in a rectilinear domain for display on a spherical surface. Accordingly, there is a need for improved techniques and/or tools that facilitate production of full motion media for display on a spherical surface.